Help:New Gardeners
Welcome and thank you for being here! Wherever you are, we hope this wiki can support you in becoming a gardener, and in gardening in ways that help make Maryland's ecosystem healthier. Intended Audience This article is intended for folks who haven't ever played much of a part in taking care of an outdoor space before, but who want to learn to be good stewards of land in their care. Our intent is to assume little about what you already know and give you a solid start with the basics. Our goal is also to assume little about what you can afford, in terms of time, money, and physical effort - so we hope that there's at least some stuff here that can help everyone. If you want to garden, we want to make sure you can do so. First Steps Here's what we recommend when you're first getting into gardening or caring for your outside space. What plants are already in your garden? When you're first starting to care for a place, it helps to explore what's already there. Here are some tools that can help you: *You can start all of this with a tool you already use for photo albums - anything from Flickr to Facebook will work. Go around your garden and take pictures of EVERYTHING you think might be a different plant than the others, then stick them in one place. If you can upload as you go with captions on where things are growing, it might help you later. Similarly, you can try using something like Pinterest to record what's growing - here's a board where GwynnsFalls does this. *The PlantSnap Apphttps://www.plantsnap.com/ is one of many mobile apps available to help you use your mobile phone to ID your plants. Here's a page on their site on Garden Flower Identification , which goes over a bit of both how it works and why it's important. *Habitat Network http://content.yardmap.org/, powered by yardmap, is affiliated with The Nature Conservancy and The Cornell Lab . This page on Getting to Know the Plants in Your Yard goes over some common plant traits that field guides and such will use in order to help you determine what plant you've got. Sadly, as of the end of January, 2019, the National Science Foundation stopped funding this site's tool to map gardens run through this same network, which we hope will find new funding and become a great resource for all of us again soon. Meanwhile, the articles are still helpful. How big is your yard or garden, and what's growing where? It really helps to know how much space you're dealing with, and to make a map of your garden to help you record what's already growing where and what you'd like to plant. As you learn about your plants (both the ones you have and the ones you'd like to add), pay attention to how much space they need to inform your work on this. Here are some tools that can help you: *Pen, paper, and a tape measure - you can just start with a sketch that you try to stick sizes and shapes together in. **Here's a great guide from The National Gardening Association's Learning Libraryhttps://garden.org/learn that might help you do this with accurately with a few more tools, like a compass and protractor. *Here's a guide from SF Bay Gardeninghttps://sfbaygardening.com on how to create a garden map starting from Google Maps. *Especially for veggie gardens and rectangular spaces, this drawing guide from Garden Therapyhttps://gardentherapy.ca might help you. *You can join a very focused Facebook group, Plant Identification , and post pictures of things that are evading your attempts to ID them. There are also other similar groups, and you're welcome to ask in Maryland Area Environmentally-Conscious Gardening, too, where there's a thread just for that purpose . Where should you avoid digging? There might be utility infrastructure in your yard. *You should get help figuring out where your underground utility cables and pipes are by working with Miss Utility of Maryland before you dig. Do this by dialing 811 (which is also required to work in every other state) or submitting a ticket on their website. They, in turn, will contact your utility companies to get them to mark where things that you should avoid are on your property. It's a free service. How much sun does your yard or garden get? Most plants prefer a certain amount of sun or shade to thrive. If you figure out how much sun or shade different parts of your yard or garden get, it can help you pick old plants and identify existing ones (by narrowing what could grow in the conditions present). *Here's a great guide from 104homestead.com on sun mapping. It goes over what different terms, like full shade, part shade, and so forth mean when you see light requirements described for plants. If also tells you a simple method of determining how much sun different areas get. It will help to have a map of your space, as described above, first. *You can also buy a tool for this, like this one , for less than $20. You can also ask to borrow one from a neighbor through the Maryland Area Environmentally-Conscious GardeningFacebook group. What's your soil like? When you're trying to figure out what to plant, you will want to know more about your soil. This will help you pick plants that will thrive in your garden - most of them do well under some soil circumstances but not others. Be aware that you can remediate problems with your soil to make it a healthier growing environment by adding fertilizers and other additives, but your best bet, from both an environmental perspective and one of conserving your own work, time, and money, is to pick plants well-suited to what you've got to work with. Here are some resources: *The most basic thing you need to know is what kind of soil texture you have - is it clay or loam or something else? You can find out more about types of soil and how to easily test to figure out which you have (though it may vary from one part of your garden to the next) from this guide from the Gardener's Supply Company . You can also learn about some other ways to test from the Urban Gardening for Dummies site's guide . *You can also test your soil for nutrients and contaminents. Nutrients are important because you can figure out how and if you should fertilize from them. You should also test your soil for lead and heavy metals, which are dangerous, especially if you have kids or will be growing food - and lead in particular is a big problem in many long-settled parts of Maryland and Baltimore city because of historic use of lead paint. The University of Maryland Extention Program has a page and a document that can guide you through your options for testing of both sorts. You can also buy a home nutrient test - here's an example . You can also learn more specifically about lead soil testing from UMB Extenion here . **Have you got a lot of lead in your soil? Don't despair - and do learn about how plants can help you clean it out through a process called Phytoremediation . Without watering, about how wet does your yard tend to be? Some plants prefer wetter or dryer homes. A lot of the advantages of planting native plants, which are adapted to live in Maryland without anyone actively caring for them, is that you may not need to water your garden much once you've got things established. To choose what will work best, especially in a low-maintenance, environmentally-friendly garden, though, you need to know how wet your soil usually is. Again, this can be variable, so check different parts of your yard or garden separately if they have different soil types, different elevation, different levels of sun, and so forth. *Here's an article that includes background information on why this matters and what can go wrong if you don't match plants well to soil moisture, as well as some info on easy tests of your soil moisture level, from SFGate. *You can also buy a tool for this, like this one , for less than $20. More expensive ones may work better, but they can get pricey. You can also ask to borrow one from a neighbor through the Maryland Area Environmentally-Conscious GardeningFacebook group. Join a supportive community where you can ask questions There are all kinds of communities around, both online and in person, to help gardeners. *For gardeners focused on environmental stewardship in Maryland, who are supportive of folks who are still learning, please join Maryland Area Environmentally-Conscious Gardening. We swap plants, talk about which are working, and help each other make tough decisions. If you get into, say, only planting plants native to Maryland, there are more specific groups, like this one, that you can join once you've got your bearings. *You can also find a garden club in your area through The Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland , by following the instructions to ask for help locating one near you at this link . Please note that these clubs tend to have dues and some are focused on community as much as gardening, which may or may not suit your needs. Ask questions. *Try searching for your county's (or Baltimore City's) University of Maryland Extention Program - ones that mention Master Gardeners might be especially helpful. They all seem to have facebook pages, and post good things to get you started and finding out about other resources near you. You can also look on their website, at this link . The Tools You'll Need It doesn't take much to start! Here's some information on what to make sure you have, along with leads on where to find stuff and how to use it where appropriate. Be aware that estate sales, the Facebook marketplace, and Craigslist may have gently used garden tools to make getting them more affordable or even free. Something to plant with You can start with as little as a trowel, or small hand shovel used to dig holes for seeds and plants. Something to water with You'll need something to water your plants with. A pitcher can make a watering can in a pinch. For larger areas, hoses helps - especially with a good nozzle that can help you distribute water gently. Information You're here, which is a great start! There are also a plethora of other resources available to you - you're not alone! Link to helpful web resources list Link to recommended reading list Plants and Seeds When you're getting started, one of the most helpful things you can do is try to plant Maryland Native plants or at least US Native plants, because both are much more beneficial than plants that aren't originally from around here. Some of these plants are categorized here as Exotics (meaning they're not native to the US and as a rule are not beneficial to wildlife) and some are labeled as Invasives, which are exotics that are actually actively harmful to people, property, animals, and/or the environment when planted in Maryland. Try to avoid at least the things on the invasive list when you start planting. When you get there, here are some places you can find helpful plants to start with: * This Wikia's Nurseries List * The Plant Trading Thread in the Maryland Area Environmentally-Conscious GardeningFacebook group. Trading can be a misnomer - many gardeners are happy to give extra plants and seeds to each other. * Wild places - with the help of this guide on collecting wild seeds from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center . All the extra stuff that can make it easier There are a LOT more tools than spades and watering devices, and a lot of them can save you a lot of time and energy. Check out our article on Gardening Tools and How to Use Them for more information. If you think a certain tool might help but you're not sure, try borrowing one from a neighbor through a neighborhood association, the Maryland Area Environmentally-Conscious GardeningFacebook group, a tool library, or a local garden club. After You've Oriented Yourself Once you've figured out this basic information, try heading to the page. This page is intended for folks who have some knowledge or experience and want to figure out which of the many methods and processes that can help make gardens more ecologically helpful places they can put in place. A note of caution, especially if you're new: figure out how much time and energy you have to devote to this early. Then, set reasonable, incremental goals that won't break your desire to continue, your body, or your budget. References